ATTORNEY ADVERTISING / SUPER LAWYERS MAGAZINE / NEW YORK METRO 2015 39 SUPERLAWYERS.COM
half of the first character differentiates the
knockoff from the corporate product.

“There are so many options, depending uponthe meaning of the character,” Wu says. “Havingknowledge of the Chinese language certainlyhelps to assess the risks and better understandthe client’s trademarks.”But both Wu and Chen see good thingscoming out of Chinese IP law. “The Chinesetrademark system is only a couple of decadesold—I think their trademark law passedin 1983—and they keep establishing newauthorities. They have new intellectual propertycourts that opened up in late 2014,” Wu says.

“The law is still developing, and it’s a positive
thing for U.S. and international brand owners.”

MOVING FORWARD, LOOKING BACK

It's all so new. China’s current constitution
was only enacted in 1982, while the economy’s
private sector wasn’t officially recognized and
protected until a 1988 amendment. The country
is still run by the communist party, while its
long-held philosophy tends to discount written
laws for moral example.

Yet this nascent legal system currently
undergirds the world’s second-largest economy.

Is this a cause for concern?

Economic fluctuations in China this summer
certainly caused panic around the world. Then
there's the recent detainment of more than 200
rights lawyers in China, which Sullivan calls “a
stark reminder” of the authoritarian nature of
the government.

“Authoritarian states greatly fear politicalinstability and social unrest,” he says, “whichis why improvements in the rule of law tendto be more marked in the economic andcommercial arenas than in human rightsand freedoms. This kind of restraint on rightslawyers obviously impedes the development ofan independent court system and a free legalprofession. ... [But] I would think that as Chinamoves increasingly toward a consumer-driveneconomy—as opposed to, say, an investment-driven economy—and social media makes itimpossible to suppress the flow of information,we will slowly begin to see systemic reforms tothe criminal justice system, and these types ofrestraints on lawyers will become less common.”Chen says many in China continue to wonder.

“People there are still arguing the question,
‘Which is greater: power or law?’” he says.

Several times a year, Chen returns to China
for business, and each time he tries to make
it back to Wenzhou, where he was born, and
where his mother and two brothers still live.

He’s invariably surprised by all the changes:“I miss the originality of the old city andcountryside,” he says, “with its vivid pictures ofrice fields and Chinese buffalo.”The rice fields where Chen worked arealso gone—replaced by high-rise apartmentbuildings and factories. As a teenager, thereality of those fields all but obliterated Chen’sdreams; now it’s the rice fields themselves thatseem the dream.

“The scale of the change of the landscape
makes you wonder if you are from there,” he
says, “so different from the old days.”

Most law firms sell time. But is it time, or what’s behind the time, that really matters?

We pride ourselves in answering not only the questions our clients ask of us, but also
in answering the questions they didn’t think to ask; of analyzing not only what we are
given to analyze, but what we were not given as well. We practice outside the box.

The firm congratulates four of its attorneys: Steven L. Levitt and Karen L.
Weiss on their selection to 2015 Super Lawyers, and Irene Tenedios and
Trevor M. Gomberg on their selection to 2015 Rising Stars.